I think that "Scand. museums Hnefatafl edge 11x11", and indeed any edge Tafl version, should forbid repetitions and draws completely. Draws are probably needed in corner Tafl, to stop the attackers from blocking all corners too easily, but in edge Tafl there is no such reason for having them, and also no possibility of building edge forts (since you already won then ). Or are there other reasons for having them here?

conanlibrarian wrote:I think that "Scand. museums Hnefatafl edge 11x11", and indeed any edge Tafl version, should forbid repetitions and draws completely. Draws are probably needed in corner Tafl, to stop the attackers from blocking all corners too easily, but in edge Tafl there is no such reason for having them

Interesting that the Fotevikens Museum has changed their Tablut rules and added a point 13 which was not there before:

Very interesting comments everyone! I think we all can agree that the tournament proved at least one thing: In "Scandinavian Museum 11x11 Edge" black is the stronger side (but by how much could still be discussed). This is interesting in itself, since previously white was assumed by some to be stronger.

Further thoughts:

For the three king strengths: four-sided (armed), unarmed (four-sided), and two-sided (armed), four-sided is obviously strongest, but which is weakest? Based on my feeling I would say "two-sided"; do you agree?

What about "Scandinavian Museum 9x9 Edge", or Cartier Tablut? Very little experience, but perhaps worth giving it another chance, given the tournament experience? The smaller board should give white a better chance compared to "Scandinavian Museum 11x11 Edge".

"13. In certain situations the so-called perpetual moves may occur. This can happen both at exit and at encirclement. In order to break such a stalemate the aggressive party after a couple of repetitions has to make a different move. This rule can be explained by the following example: the king threatens to exit and a muscovit is moved in between to block. The king then moves to another square and threatens to exit here as well. The same muscovit has to be employed to block this time too. The king moves back to the first square and the muscovit is also moved back to block. When the described moves are repeated a couple of times, he who plays the Swedes must make a different move, because it is he who is the aggressive party."

Thanks Hagbard for the translation. That's very interesting that they also focus on which player is the "aggressive party" just as we discussed the "threatening player" - Usually in game situations it will be the defenders who are the aggressive party, but there is always the possibility that the attackers can threaten checkmate in a repetitive move, and so they will be forced to find another move, as the defenders are helpless to do so. I wonder what they would make of our double perpetual check scenario where both players are placing each other in check on alternate moves - not a very likely event I know, but possible!

conanlibrarian wrote:I think we all can agree that the tournament proved at least one thing: In "Scandinavian Museum 11x11 Edge" black is the stronger side (but by how much could still be discussed). This is interesting in itself, since previously white was assumed by some to be stronger.

Yes the difficulties of the defenders in the "Scandinavian Museum 11x11 Edge" was a surprice at least to me.

conanlibrarian wrote:What about "Scandinavian Museum 9x9 Edge", or Cartier Tablut? Very little experience, but perhaps worth giving it another chance, given the tournament experience? The smaller board should give white a better chance compared to "Scandinavian Museum 11x11 Edge".

I suggest we try a test tournament in "Scandinavian Museum 9x9 Edge" in a couple of weeks?

Hagbard wrote:I suggest we try a test tournament in "Scandinavian Museum 9x9 Edge" in a couple of weeks?

No comments on this yet. I would find that very interesting - but I don't want to be the guy that causes weird tournaments with less popular rule-sets. What do other people think, would this version to be interesting to play? Also, a question: The newly available "Skalk 9x9 edge" - I assume the rules are identical to the 11x11 edge version except for board size and starting position? Reason I ask is I saw the old Cartier games have this name also now since the name change, and the rules there are slightly different for the throne.